Where You Belong
by Fragments of Time
Summary: Short oneshot. It's Mother's Day, and Esha finds a box of chocolate on her desk. Having no kids unless one counts Resurgam's doctors… well, who could it be from?


A/N: I just get a lot of feels about Resurgam's family dynamic. That's especially true for Esha and Maria. My headcanons for Maria's backstory mean that she never really had a good mother figure, but I definitely think she sees Esha as such, and that it means a lot to her. And I definitely think Esha sees the doctors in a very maternal way - Maria in particular. (And Gabe, but he doesn't really see her as a mother figure, which changes the dynamic a little.) Anyway, okay, enough about my feels!

* * *

Esha entered her office, setting her bag down and going over to her desk to work. She was distracted from this, however, when she noticed a small box. It was wrapped a little clumsily - not horribly, but with a definite appearance of having been done by someone without much experience in the matter - and had a small purple ribbon taped on. She picked it up, more than a little confused, but couldn't find any indication who it was from.

Or why.

Granted, it would be incredibly difficult not to notice the holiday occurring that day. Store sales and ads everywhere reminded everyone of Mother's Day, urging them to buy presents. She had sent her mother a package in the mail and planned to call her after work, but… with no kids of her own, she was used to that being the extent of things. For that reason, she wasn't so sure she ought to assume it was supposed to be related to it being Mother's Day, but at the same time, it would be strange for a person to randomly give someone a present unrelated to a holiday _on the day of_ the holiday. Who would get her a _Mother's Day_ present though?

She opened it, figuring maybe that would provide some sort of explanation. It was a box of chocolate - her favorite kind, actually. The box still gave no indication who it was from, but… she had some ideas. On the one hand, not giving any clear indication of themselves probably meant the person wanted to be anonymous. But on the other hand, she really did want to know…

The biggest clue would be that it would have to be someone who knew what kind of chocolate she liked. She was pretty sure she had mentioned it to a few people here and there; it wasn't as if it was something that narrowed it down hugely. It was also technically a possibility that someone had asked one of the people who knew, or had simply guessed, but for now she decided to assume otherwise. The inexperienced wrapping didn't narrow things down in the slightest, so she had to think… who would be the most likely to decide to give her such a present, _and_ decide they didn't want her to know it was them?

It didn't take her terribly long to come to a conclusion. She wasn't certain about it, but… well, if she was right… the person involved wasn't so good at covering her feelings.

When she opened the door to Maria's office, she could see the surprise on her features, and the way Maria then quickly tried to hide it.

"Good morning," Esha greeted.

"Uh… 'morning." She seemed a little uncomfortable, which Esha felt a little apologetic for. Even so… _Bingo_.

"Can I sit?" She gestured to the chair across from Maria's.

"Yeah, sure."

After doing so, Esha smiled at her. "Thank you."

Maria's face flushed very slightly in embarrassment, but she played dumb in case she was jumping to conclusions. "It's, I mean, well, it's just a chair…"

Esha gave a small shake of her head. "You know what I mean."

Quickly, she tried to think of some way to avoid it. It was _embarrassing_ , and probably kind of weird. She had to accept, however, that there was really no way out of it. "I was worried you'd figure it out…"

She tilted her head slightly. "It's nothing you needed to worry or be embarrassed about. I appreciate it."

"...You don't find it weird?"

"No, not really. I know I'm not technically your mother, but… I appreciate it."

Maria hesitated, but Esha sensed she was going to say something and didn't interrupt. "I guess I'm kind of… the one who's trying to thank _you_ ," she finally said. That was obvious from the fact that she had given her a present, wasn't it?

"You don't need to thank me." It wasn't that she didn't appreciate it, but rather that she didn't want Maria to feel some sort of obligation. As far as she was concerned, she hadn't really done anything special at all, although she did know she was more caring about the doctors than most chiefs were; many tended to keep their co-workers at arm's length instead of forming close bonds with them.

She hesitated again, and when she spoke, it was quietly. "You know, um… I kind of used to hate Mother's Day for a long time. All the stuff talked about having these great, supportive mothers who cared about you no matter what, and all that… and that you should celebrate them 'cause of that…" She averted her eyes. "Well, you know. I grew up in an orphanage. Even before I lived there - back when I actually did used to live with my mom…" She paused, suddenly realizing the implications meant admitting more than she had really wanted to. It was too late to backtrack now, though. "...I really didn't have that."

Esha kept her expression from changing, but her heart broke a bit at the implications. Everyone had pretty much assumed that having grown up in an orphanage meant her parents had died when she was little or given her up as a baby for one reason or another. Something about the way Maria had said that just now, however, led her to see a different picture.

"Umm… but…" Her face was flushing again. "You kind of… have been that." She didn't want to outright say it, but she figured Esha would get the picture.

It was true. Honestly, she cared about the doctors here like they actually were her own children. Esha was glad Maria understood that; she had come so far since when she first came to Resurgam. She had been so afraid to trust back then… but time had passed and things had changed. It was a relief to all the other doctors, really - everyone had welcomed her into the family right away, but she had had trouble accepting it. "I'm glad. And you're right - no matter what, you can always count on me. On all of us here at Resurgam."

Maria smiled. At first it was a bit apprehensive, but it didn't take long to form into a grin. "Yeah. You're right. Uhm, don't tell anyone I said any of this, but… you guys… are kinda… basically, my family. -Now, anyway! Let's stop all this sappy talk. We've got stuff to do, don't we?"

Esha smiled back at her. Typical Maria. "Well, I wouldn't mind sharing a chocolate or two, if you'd like…"

"Hell yeah!" She jumped to her feet. Yeah, she'd gotten them for Esha, but if Esha was willing to share…

They went to Esha's office and ate chocolate. The day was never really mentioned again, but certainly, neither of them ever forgot.


End file.
